Engaging in athletic activities usually takes more muscular flexibility than non-athletic activities. One of the most difficult and time consuming aspects of engaging in athletic activity is obtaining proper and adequate flexibility through stretching conditioning. Indeed, it is typical for an athlete to spend much more time preparing for athletic competition in the form of stretching exercises than the athlete spends in competition, for failure to prepare oneself with adequate flexibility and stretching exercises can lead to serious injury.
The leg muscles in particular are critical to most forms of athletic activity. These muscles are the largest muscle group of the body and are perhaps the most susceptible to injury due to improper stretching and flexibility preparation. To complicate matters it is difficult to adequately perform stretching exercises with the legs in an upright position because the contact between the feet and the ground impair the maneuverability of the feet to extend outwards from the vertical axis of the body. Yet is highly desirable to condition the leg muscles to be able to extend fully out away from the body while the torso rests on the ground. This maneuver is traditionally called the "splits". Being able to comfortably due the splits is an indication that an athlete has maximum flexibility in his legs, thus minimizing the chances of muscular injuries in athletic competition. Because of the above mentioned problem, it is difficult for athletes to be able to condition themselves to do splits comfortably.
A machine which facilitates an athlete in conditioning himself or herself to obtain maximum flexibility in the legs is therefore highly desirable.